Why Major in Economics

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Why do you want to major in Economics?

Some common answers are: "I like the subject", "I'm good at this", "I expect to be
a (fill in an appropriate title) when I graduate". Some others are: "My parents want
me to do this", "I want a business degree but I couldn't get into a business school",
or "I want to make a lot of money". Obviously these answers are a very personal choice,
and it is hoped that students come to economics for all of the right reasons for themselves.
It should be important for each student to find a major that can enhance their personal
world and through which they can also contribute to society. If a student chooses
a career path for which they have neither aptitude nor affinity it will be very difficult
to be successful and, more importantly, happy.

Advantages of an Economics Major

Intellectual Elegance

Economics is attractive to some because of its models and elegant theoretical structure.
At advanced levels, economics is highly mathematical. Thus it gives students proficient
in mathematics an opportunity to put their mathematics to good use working on important
human problems.

Policy Relevance

Careers

An economics major opens a variety of interesting options after graduation. One can
go on for further study in economics, finance, business, law, health care administration,
public administration, and other fields. Or one can seek, with reasonable prospect
of success, jobs in a variety of areas, including finance, banking, and government
service. We will discuss job opportunities more extensively later.

Disadvantages of an Economics Major

Economics is Not Finance

Students may be seeking a business degree with its exposure to marketing, quality
control, accounting, tax law, business law, and human resource management. While an
underpinning for finance and for other managerial studies, economics is broader than
management and will not substitute for the detailed study of certain aspects of management.
However, economics will provide a sound and firm base for certain future management
courses.

Quantitative Skills

Some students may prefer to avoid a quantitative social science that employs considerable
mathematics: geometry and algebra at the lower levels, calculus for many 400-level
courses. Even when the exposition is not highly mathematical, the reasoning in the
discipline normally is very deductive. Some students prefer a more inductive approach.
Moreover, some believe that the deductive reasoning is based on assumptions that sometimes
are not very realistic. For example, many markets may not be fully competitive, and
corporations may often influence consumer preferences.

Narrow Focus

You may prefer a more broadly based discipline. For example, most other social sciences
include considerable emphasis on economics. But economics pays much less attention
to the findings of sociology, anthropology, history, and other social sciences. In
the same vein, economics often takes as given the wants and goals of people. It focuses
instead on the narrower issue of how to achieve given goals most efficiently, that
is, at lowest cost. In contrast, other disciplines may be more helpful to those who
wish to reflect on what goals to choose and how to choose them.

"The Dismal Science"

You may find economics dull. Economics emphasizes the costs as well as the benefits
of various actions. Often the costs can be estimated more reliably than the benefits,
thus helping to create a possible bias towards the status quo. Usually economics examines
the effects of marginal changes, not dramatic revolutionary changes. As indicated
above, its arguments can be highly theoretical, based on assumptions that are not
always closely grounded in reality.